Tithed Together
by The Queen of All Cosmos
Summary: The Tournament of the Three Kingdoms has come to the Labyrinth, but even this proves unequal to the task of pulling Jareth from his broken-hearted preoccupation... until the treacherous Fairy Queen grants him a tithe he can't ignore. S/J


**PROLOGUE**

* * *

Two years had passed in the Underground in much the same way they had passed on the surface—which is to say, excruciatingly. For a man who boasted of the ability to reorder time at his slightest whim, he could do nothing to make the seasons turn faster, and where would that inevitable progression lead, anyway? Only to forever. Just more of the same. And where forever had once seemed a finite, thrilling destination, it now just seemed like a terrible bother.

In the two years since the conquering of his labyrinth, Jareth had taken to getting out more, but it wasn't as therapeutic as one would imagine. When he wasn't holed up in his bed chamber, brooding, he would take wing and fly to the farthest perimeters of his kingdom, where he would proceed to perch in his owl form for hours on end—also brooding. Where the Goblin King had once been a listless, terminally bored monarch with a bit of a mean streak, he was now an inconsolable brooder with an even bigger mean streak.

When he returned to the castle that evening it was to the unpleasant discovery that a cluster of his advisors was lying in wait for him. Jareth barely touched down through the window before his form elongated, his dark shadow lengthening across the faces of the sniveling little goons. The king's face was twisted in displeasure; they cowered there together silently, before combining their strength to push one of their number forward. Their chosen emissary was a positively ancient goblin with a snow-white beard that trailed far past his gnarled toes and on down the steps; there were traces of gristle and bones from past meals protruding from it, and, ridiculously enough, a little yellow flower. He had been elected by his fellows solely on the impressiveness of his beard.

"Your Majesty," he wheezed, his eyebrows inching together like furry little caterpillars. "It has come to our attention that there has been some—_unrest,_ of late—mounting from within our city's fair walls..."

"Not _now,_" Jareth snapped. He was massaging the bridge of his nose as if to assuage a headache. "Can't you see that I'm preoccupied?"

"Begging your pardon, Your Majesty, but this preoccupation of yours... it _has_ been going on for the better part of two years now. The Labyrinth has fallen into a terrible state of disrepair; your subjects have sunk to even deeper depths of depravity—"

"All is well then, is it not?" Jareth interrupted impatiently. "I've given the fools more freedom than they know what to do with. Am I not benevolent?"

"Yes, of course, but Your Majesty... there is the small matter of the upcoming tournament."

His advisor paused awkwardly as he allowed his reminder to sink in; evidently, preparations for the tournament had been as far-flung from the Goblin King's mind as the man had often wished a certain raven-haired woman to be. Jareth furrowed his brow as he sank back into his throne, his gloved fingers furling and furling before the grim set of his mouth. "The Tournament of the Three Kingdoms..." he expounded thoughtfully. "I thought that wasn't due for at least another half-century or so. Are you quite certain it is upon us?"

"My Lord, the Elf and Fairy Courts depart as we speak, and are due to arrive here on the morrow. It is the Underground's turn to host this year."

"And why did you feel it necessary to withhold this information from me?"

Before the grizzled old goblin could respond, Jareth surged forward in his chair like a serpent, yanking the flailing creature up by his beard and carrying him swiftly down the steps towards the cauldron. It was there he proceeded to tip the goblin upside-down and dangle him above the boiling pot, gaze flinty and far removed from the other's suffering. His advisors cowered at his cruelty as the least fortunate among them floundered for an excuse.

"Your Majesty, you have been gone almost a week—!"

"And have you no means to find me? You know very well I can't leave this wretched place. Use your imagination!"

He tossed his advisor summarily aside in disgust; in the next instant he rounded on the others, who shrieked and clutched one another in a quivering mass. "Show some spirit!" he commanded, raising his arms. "Organize a committee at once—see to every necessary preparation, or so help me I will boil the flesh from your bones and serve you to the Fairy Queen myself! And take this contemptible creature with you," Jareth added, nudging the trembling goblin on the floor with his boot. "Trim that repulsive beard of his before I see fit to have his entire head removed."

And the Goblin King strode from the room without a word further, his thoughts once more preoccupied by matters his retrogressed contemporaries couldn't even begin to understand.

* * *

Jareth took very few pains to suppress a yawn as the Elven Lord and Lady were lead out of his chamber. Receiving his guests before the official feast and induction ceremonies was entirely proper, but it was no secret he would rather be elsewhere; out prowling the hedge maze, possibly, and introducing the odd unlucky gremlin to the wicked curve of his boot. Damned nuisances, the lot of them.

_And fairy queens aren't much better,_ Jareth thought dourly, as an imp by the name of Robin Goodfellow cavorted in to announce his lady's impending entrance. Queen Titania swept into the room moments later, accompanied by King Oberon and the other members of the Seelie Court. Their entourage threw rose petals and released flocks of bejeweled butterflies from covered baskets; Jareth wrinkled his nose at the infestation, but said nothing as the royal couple bowed their heads at the foot of his pedestal.

"The Fairy Court bids you good evening, Goblin King," Titania greeted in her golden voice, eyes shining beneath wing-tipped lashes. "And we wish now to present you with a gift. As you know, it is the custom of my people to provide a tithe to the ruler of the hosting realm. We hope that this year you will not be disappointed." The queen signaled to several attendants near the back, and as the crowd of fairies parted, Jareth raised his head. His pupils, ever-mismatched, expanded dramatically then as his eyes locked on the figure being pushed to the forefront.

Standing before him, dressed in an open-backed gown and adorned in glimmering foreign finery, was none other than Sarah Williams.

What a wretched discovery it was to now find that the years had been more than kind to her, they had been quite _enabling._ Her lips were fuller and more flushed, dominating the slope of her exquisite face in a brushstroke of red; her eyes, at first understandably astonished, now smoldered quietly at him from beneath the elegant sweep of dark brows. There were far too many changes for him to take in right away, but oh, that defiance was familiar—even with the width of a room spanning between them, he could feel it as keenly as if it burned. It ignited his flesh from the inside and set his heart to racing; there was no equivalent to the feeling, to the inherent _challenge,_ that Sarah Williams gave him.

"Leave us," he said suddenly. His dismissal came as something of an ugly shock to Titania, who was unused to being commanded, but was delivered so imperiously she could not muster the strength to defy him; she allowed herself to be led away. Once she had gone, Jareth rose from his throne. He descended a single step before halting, his gaze fixed upon Sarah, but he found he could go no further. The silence that filled the room was maddening; the paces that would lead him to her seemed more numerous than the empty days that had passed behind them.

"Well well," the Goblin King said eventually. Once his voice broke the impasse, it was fairly easy to shed any remaining anxieties still nettling him; he opened his arms to her, his eyes climbing her figure. "This _is_ an unexpected surprise."

* * *

**So credit where credit's due, there are definite shades of _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ in this plot... this is how I like to envision a sequel might work itself out, so I will be doing my best to keep everyone in character (and who knows, there may be a few cameos from other Jim Henson Company works as well!).**

**This was originally conceived as a roleplay intro, but I thought it might be fun to shift perspectives a bit... unless you'd like to hear exclusively from Jareth? Please feel free to let me know in your reviews!** **I'm so glad to have you along for the ride. There are many twists and turns in store.**

**And there will be singing.**


End file.
